Snippets of Europe

Long hiatus since my last update. So many things has happened and suddenly I have the urge to do something to revive this blog again. One of my "blue moon" again maybe? I will probably start with some snippets to my Europe trip last month when I was sent over to Germany for training.  In my opinion, Europe has far too many under-rated and over-rated cities. If you are planning to go Europe on a free-and-easy trip, you should probably stay tuned. 

The first question a lot of people would have in mind would be the travelling itinerary. For me, it wasn't much of an issue because I already planned to meet up with friends half way through the travelling trip, so all I have to do is to tag along their planned itinerary. Over the 1 month of training based in Germany; I managed to make trips down to nearby cities such as Berlin, Salzburg and Munich over the weekends. After the training ended, we left Germany for 12 days of budget trip to...

Just to highlight some of the places I've visited. These are probably some of the best memories I have for Europe, and you would be surprised that it's not all about the place, but what's more important is the events/people that leaves a better impression than other highly raved place.

Don't miss: The Christmas store in Salzburg at Goldenstrasse.

They sell intricately painted, laced, beaded and carved egg shells that you can hang on you Christmas tree. Finally something different from the boring ornaments that you find during Christmas Bazaar right? I'm sure you will not leave this shop empty handed because they are just so unique you know you have to get them. Each range between 3 to 20 euros depending on the design.

Mai Wiesn with fellow mentors. 

We were invited to the Burghausen traditional beer festival. Many of you would have heard about Oktoberfest, but you probably didn't know that each city in Germany celebrate their own beer festival on a different month; and Oktoberfest is a Bavarian event. During the event, young ladies and men would dress up in their traditional costume and party the whole night away with beer, beer and more beer.

Opening Ceremony of Mai Wiesn

Don't miss: Hofbrauhaus in Munich

What's better than enjoying 1 litre of malty beer and delicious Schweinhaxen (pork knuckle) in this oldest beer hall together with some live gig.

Prague - Old Town Square

The city looks so much different when night falls. The best time to take photo would be during sunset/sunrise and of course at night.

Venice - Beautiful Canals and Gondola ride

There are simply too many canals and bridges that every corners and turns will lead you to think that you were there just a few minutes ago. We ditched our map here and just blatantly followed a group of students who were led by their teacher, to bring us to the popular place like Piazza San Marco.

There's so much to share. We bought Eurail pass ticket and took trains throughout the whole Europe trip. There's so many options to how travel from taking domestic flights to hop-on buses. But there's so many advantage to take trains as compared to domestic flights. 

1. Convenience: Train station are usually right smack in the middle of the city's center and tourist attraction. Which is why when travelling to each destination you can save a lot of trouble and hassle finding ways to get from airport to city center.

2. Accurate train schedule: I'm really impressed by the train scheduling. It is almost always on the dot. Unlike domestic flight where it always get delayed and requires you to check in 2 hrs prior to flight.

3. Experience: Taking train is one activity that you must experience while in Europe. If you can, try taking a night sleeper train! 

Next entry I will probably share some useful tips on how the Eurail pass works. Till then!